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Monday, March 4, 2013

Triathlon Training Log: 2/25 to 3/3 (Week 3)

This was the week I got back on my bike.

Swim

I only got in the water once this week, on Wednesday for our regularly scheduled Club practice. My goal this week was to add some more distance to my main set and work my aerobic pace over time. Initially my plan was just to do 15 x 100, but then I thought that would be too boring. So I was gonna do 5 x 200, but that wasn’t enough yardage--and it was boring, too!

Finally, I came up with this:

- 5 x 100 @ 1:30 warm-up

- 3 x 300 / 3 x 200 / 3 x 100 @ base 1:25/100

---- 1:00 rest between sets

- 100 warm down

Anyway, I felt like I swam pretty well. I held my pace at 1:15 or less per 100 pretty easily for the entire workout; that’s a benchmark I like to hit heading into the season.

Swim Total: 1 workout (2400 yds); 24 pts.

Bike

I rode my regular commute four times this week, and I felt better doing it as the week wore on. The one day I didn’t ride in was Wednesday--it rained that day--and for my trouble, I got stuck on a City bus for more than an hour! I guess that’s what I get for not wanting to ride in the rain.

Saturday’s Tri Club partice was my first real ride of the season. The YMCA is about 9.5 miles from my house, and I rode it, though if I’d realized how cold and windy it was going to be, I might’ve actually thrown my bike in the car. Anyway, I met the guys at about 9:00, and we set out at maybe 9:20. There were four of us: Steve, Ben, myself, and David, who’s training for the Ironman Lake Placid. David doesn’t come to Club practice a lot because the Club is basically geared towards beginners, and our workouts aren’t designed to be anything near what you need to get ready for an Ironman, but Saturday he’d spent an hour or so on the trainer before practice, and then come out to meet us when we hit the road.

We wound up riding through the hills north of Milford, CT, and although it was chilly when we started, I had a blast. It was real work trying to keep up with David through the hills, but that was the best part of it, and when we weren’t climbing, we talked about this and that--work and life and marriage and the rest of the stuff that guys talk about when they’re out riding. I could use more of that in my life.

Anyway, we rode for about an hour and then headed back to the Y. From there, I headed home, and David headed out to put in another hour or so. The rest of the guys went their separate ways. Another ride down, time to head back to Real Life.

I wanted to run twice this week, but sometimes real life gets in the way. This was one of those weeks. I ran an easy 4-miler on Tuesday, just kind of putting in some mile for the first 3 miles before doing some quick 30-second up-tempo bursts on the last mile. That wasn’t a bad little workout, but in the back of my mind, I feel like I need to put in a long run of at least 7 miles as prep for the races that are coming.

Run Total: 1 x run (4 miles); 16 pts.

Training Total: 120.7 pts.

Final Thoughts

My goal this week was to try to get somewhere between 130 and 135 pts. Sunday turned into a super-busy family day, however, so I never got the chance to put in either the second swim or second run that I’d been looking for.

If I’d had the choice, I probably would have gone for the swim, just based on trying to hold my feel for the water, but what can you do? Real life is important, too; there’s just no way around it.

This week is a Rest Week, and I know that I need the rest. In fact, until yesterday, I hadn’t had so much as a rest day in almost two weeks. Not that every day has been a killer, but rest is important, and I know that I need mine. How that’s going to wind up fitting into my desire to get in that 7-miler I know that I need is the question of the week.